


maybe north isn't always up (it just points towards you)

by chennieforyourthoughts



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA is an underground rap group, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, OT9 - Freeform, Set in America haha, Stray Kids Ship Week 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 05:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chennieforyourthoughts/pseuds/chennieforyourthoughts
Summary: Somehow, they've all ended up here— all nine of them— and when Chris leans his head back and looks up through the moonroof of his car, he can see the needle leading him to them in silver against the velvet black.





	maybe north isn't always up (it just points towards you)

**Author's Note:**

> Stray Kids Ship Week 2019 Day 3: Soulmate AUs
> 
>  
> 
> This is probably very inaccurate but it's supposed to be set in Southern California and in the same verse as ["it's a beautiful sky".](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636150)

The car’s occupants did not speak as it sped along Highway 1, but it was not silent. There was the thrumming base of the track someone had turned on, the snap of Jisung’s bubblegum, the shifting of Chris’s guitar in the trunk when they turned around the road’s curves.

Jisung craned his head back to watch the stars above through the car’s moonroof, swirling high above and much faster than them, than any of them. “Hey, get your shoes off my dash,” Chris reprimanded him for the third time that night. The shotgun’s occupant complied for the time being, but the trio all knew it was only a matter of time until the white Adidas’s made their way back onto the leather.

“We can stay in San Juan tonight,” Chris announced, and Changbin looked away from the window.

“Sounds good, hyung,” he replied, and Chris glanced back at him in the rearview mirror.

Downtown was full of life even though it was getting late, but Chris managed to wrangle them a spot in one of the motels. Changbin pulled Chris’s guitar from the trunk after Jisung parked the car, and they headed to meet Chris at their room for the night,

“Couch?” Jisung asked, and Chris and Changbin nodded.

“Changbin doesn’t kick,” Chan replied, fiddling with the remote for the television. Changbin and Jisung exchanged a look which roughly translated to, _next time it’ll be you._

Once again they were silent, save for the television playing in the background.

The next morning, before the trio climbed into Chris’s car once more, their leader stopped and stared at the empty clips on the top of it and remembered, remembered the feeling of the water under him.

He remembered, so he climbed into the driver’s seat and pressed down on the gas to drive the longing to the back of his mind. He’d sold what he loved for what he loved more.

They ate at a diner in San Juan Capistrano and watched the passersby. Jisung skewered bites of huevos rancheros on his fork and stuck them into Changbin’s mouth, and Chris absent-mindedly rubbed at the colors on his wrist. They marked him, never fading, and for a moment Chris wondered what his parents would think.

 _Perhaps he should go back and see them,_ he thought, and made a quick mental note of it. _They probably knew, and his mom had sent him snacks and letters before._ He blinked and leaned back when something was brought far too close to his eye, only to realize that it was simply Jisung and his fork with food. Changbin and Jisung both watched him closely as he accepted it from the younger.

“Are we heading into LA today?” Changbin asked as Jisung pulled the fork back. Neither had looked away yet, and Chris hadn’t dropped their gazes.

“Of course,” Jisung replied for Chris, who thanked him silently. “We’ll get there a little early, though, so we can walk around some and explore. Maybe we can meet your hyungs, Chris!”

Chris nodded, still chewing on the eggs. “I’ll ask,” he replied, and Changbin wrapped an arm around him from his position next to Chris on the booth’s seat. With a small shift of his hand, Changbin’s fingers were positioned directly over the brilliant white and silver on Chan’s shoulder blade. Changbin had always admired it, and right now the mark matched the dye in Chris’s hair which was slowly growing out.

“We still have to meet them!” Jisung exclaimed, loudly enough to attract attention from the tables nearby.

“Yes, I know,” Chris sighed as he led the other two out of the restaurant and back to his car. “You’ve only mentioned it fifty times on this one drive?”

They’d almost made it all the way to the SUV when they were stopped. “Pardon me?”

It was a boy, average height and suntanned. His hair was dyed orange and fading due to exposure due to the sun, and his shorts were black, giving Changbin the odd impression of Halloween. The board tucked under his arm explained why most of his clothing was slung over his shoulder along with a towel instead of on his body. “May I ride with you?”

_So a hitchhiker, then._

The trio ignored him and began to unlock the car, but then something made them pause. Maybe it was the accent he shared with Chris, maybe it was the odd sort of sun-bleached and wind-blown innocence he had, maybe it was the way he didn’t _look_ lost in the world but clearly was, but whatever it was they all felt it.

Chris got his door to unlock with a _click,_ and it broke them free. “I’m sorry, but we can’t,” he said, and Jisung and Changbin followed him into the car.

As they drove off, Jisung’s and Changbin’s gazes were stuck on the reflection of the boy in their respective mirrors.

 

The trio stopped in Los Angeles as promised and checked into the hotel they’d booked. There was only one bed, and Jisung jumped on it and fell onto his stomach in the very first moments after they entered the room. Changbin and Chris flopped down as well, and Jisung rolled over with a sigh. “Ahh, I’m so excited!” He exclaimed, and Chris laughed. “Stop laughing, we’re going to see GOT7!”

“You can meet GOT7 whenever you want,” Chris reminded him, tapping the tip of Jisung’s nose with a finger. “I love how you’re such a fanboy.”

“Can we meet them now?” Jisung shouted, apparently ignoring the last comment in favor of scrambling up and accidentally kicking both Changbin and Chris in the process.

“Tomorrow— they’re still getting settled in,” Chris reminded him, and Jisung fell back with a huff.

“Don’t you dare pout,” Changbin threatened, and Jisung whacked him with the back of his hand.

Chris rolled his eyes and wondered what he’d done to be stuck with the two of them. “What do you want to do this afternoon?”

“Beach?” Jisung requested, and Changbin shrugged.

“Fine,” he said, and although his expression was blank Chris could tell he was trying not to smile.

Chris hauled himself to sitting, and Jisung whined and made grabby hands in the vague direction of him. “We have to change if we’re going to be around sand and water,” he reminded, and both Changbin and Jisung groaned. “Come on, it won’t take five minutes.”

Soon enough, they were stumbling out the door to the hotel room with bags under their arms and sandals on their feet. “Don’t forget your water bottles!” Chris shouted to Jisung and Changbin, wincing as the room door shut with a _thud_ behind the group.

“Got them, hyung!” Jisung shouted back as Changbin hit the button for the elevator. With how fast they’d moved, Chris had to run to make the lift before it closed.

There was only one stranger in the elevator with them, and he gave them polite smiles when they entered. Chris ended up standing next to him, Changbin and Jisung in front of them, for the rest of the decent to the lobby floor.

“This your floor?” Chris asked, and the stranger smiled again. He had a feeling it had to do with his accent.

“Yes it is,” the man said, and Chris and company stepped to the side to make room for him to exit first. “Thank you,” he said, and brushed by Chris to get out.

The gasp was Jisung’s but could have been any of theirs. The stranger froze, jacket sleeve still pressed against Chris’s arm. Changbin and Jisung were staring at both the stranger and Chris at once, Chris was staring at the stranger, and the stranger was staring at Chris. “Well, this certainly makes my day more than a bit interesting.” The elevator doors started closing, and Changbin lashed out with an outstretched palm to smack the _open_ button. “I’m Woojin, Kim Woojin.”

“I’m Chris, it’s very nice to meet you.” Woojin smiled at him, a little nervous and hurried and honestly depicting exactly how Chris was feeling at that moment. Chris tried not to be distracted by how his dimples popped, but he knew Jisung and Changbin weren’t even trying.

“It’s very nice to meet you, too. Were you headed somewhere?” Chris was captivated by the man’s voice, by its timbre and how effortlessly it carried despite him seeming to be rather quiet. “If so, I’m very sorry, maybe we could meet up for dinner?”

“We were just going to the beach!” Jisung finally piped up, and Woojin actually startled. Changbin thought it was rather adorable, how completely focused he’d been on Chris. “Would you like to join us?”

Woojin blinked once, twice, then stared down at his polished black shoes. The trio watched in quiet shock as color climbed up his cheeks. “…… I was planning on calling in sick to work today, anyways,” he admitted, and then Jisung was crowing and throwing his fists into the air and Changbin was slamming the door open again and Chris was not-so-subtly trying to check out his new mark.

“Aha, found it!” Chris exclaimed after a moment, yanking the bottom hem of his shirt up to reveal where the colors had migrated to and ~~blessing~~ scarring the families waiting impatiently in the hotel lobby for the group to leave the elevator.

“You should show us later,” Woojin encouraged, flashing his most apologetic smile at a scowling mother.

Jisung popped his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Only if you take off your shirt when he takes off his.”

Changbin groaned. “Can we please just go to the beach already?”

“You gotta deal,” Chris winked.

Woojin nodded solemnly, then smirked once the group was out of sight line of the people entering the now-vacated elevator. “Last one to the beach pays for boba then, dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> I mixed up my days *hides* and thought this was supposed to be for Day 2, but it's supposed to be for Day 3, which is today! So I'm posting it today and will work on Day 2 (canon-inspired) soon.
> 
> Also, I haven't really edited this yet, so if you see anything wrong just shout it out!


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